Those lovely Shovel Knight amiibo are finally finding their way into the hands of gamers the world over, and that means we can show you what the co-op multiplayer mode (unlocked by the aforementioned lump of plastic) looks like in the main game.

As you can see in the video below, the gameplay is changed quite dramatically when two people are involved. It's possible to bounce off the other player's head - and vice versa - and a revised weight system is in play which recognises each player individually, making some of the puzzles easier and others a little more tricky. Bosses also all have additional health to compensate for the duplicated shovelry-related beatdowns.

Did your Shovel Knight amiibo arrive in the post today? What do you think of the new amiibo-unlocked content? Let us by posting a comment below.

Damien has over a decade of professional writing experience under his belt, as well as a repulsively hairy belly. Rumours that he turned down a role in The Hobbit to work on Nintendo Life are, to the best of our knowledge, completely and utterly unfounded.

So for areas that are larger then the screen, what happens when two players stand at either side and one of them tries to scroll the camera. Does it pull the other player while scrolling or does it just teleport him?

I'm asking this because it would be a little irritating to have a second player on certain sections that require Shovel Knight's other abilities.

This Co-op mode doesn't seem to have a good flow to it.They should make some brand new stages, which are made exclusively for co-op.That teleporting are just going to get annoying, as it will break up the flow for the player that is affected by it.

@abbyhitter Jan. 8th Just a couple days! Not sure where to get one. I missed the Amazon pre-order window I'd usually use. Looks great and co-op means my kids will play it more. Kirby's Epic Yarn, Mario, and Yoshi's Wooly World have trained them love the co-op platforming.

I hate amiiboo. Nintendo is getting gready. I want this but aint this in game dlc unlocked by over priced plastic figures? Im a gamer.. I enjoy games and i can pay for game contend but i dont want to buy childrens toys to get it

@MattEriks This isn't Nintendo, this is Yacht Club...I know third party support on Wii U and 3DS is FAR from what it is on other systems, but it's not actually true that everything on the systems is made by Nintendo, you know.

@MattEriksActually YCG went to Nintendo asking for an Amiibo. Co-op mode is not in the game and YCG is using the Amiibo money to pay for development of Co-oop mode.The co-op mode is exclusive to the Wii U version (other unlockables not in the base game). The Amiibo unlocks exclusive stuff in the 3DS version, which is not in the game.

So yeah this Amiibo is funding (or paying Nintendo back) for the new exclusive content in both Wii U and 3DS versions.

This looks fun, but the amiibo's initial run is looking to have the same stock as Robin and Lucina did... I'm hoping to get lucky and find one of these on Friday. I'd love to have two (I want to make a custom Black Knight), but that will have to wait for a restock, assuming we ever get one.

I've already shared enough times on this website my dislike of having multiplayer only available as amiibo instead of also being available as a fairer priced DLC, so I won't go into details now. I don't like it in principle, but it won't affect me since I have the 3DS version, no friends nearby to play co-op with, and I wanted the amiibo anyway.

(EDIT: Ignore this paragraph. As @bro2dragons pointed out, it's completely incorrect. I just skipped through the video without reading the text) The gameplay looks fine, but there's nothing major or groundbreaking with the co-op mode. It's slightly disappointing to not have any new mechanics in co-op mode, such as jumping on the other person to reach higher places easier.

I'm still looking forward to trying out the new challenges that the amiibo unlocks, even though I don't like them being unlocked this way.

@crimsontadpoleswrote:"It's slightly disappointing to not have any new mechanics in co-op mode, such as jumping on the other person to reach higher places easier."

@Damowrote:"...the gameplay is changed quite dramatically when two people are involved. It's possible to bounce off the other player's head - and vice versa - and a revised weight system is in play which recognises each player individually, making some of the puzzles easier and others a little more tricky. Bosses also all have additional health to compensate for the duplicated shovelry-related beatdowns."

every amiibo made should have an in-game item, level, mode, and/or something else in every first/second party nintendo game. props to yacht club for showing nintendo the way. i would buy style savvy if bayonetta's outfit was in there. i want my inkling to have toad's hat, mega man armor, the feet of corrin as shoes, and a shovel knight slosher shaped like a shovel.

i want a skell that looks like the armor of ganondorf complete with cape, sold to me by reese, and bult by cyrus. i want a shield made from bowser's shell in twilight princess hd - shed, not harvested. i want the inkling girl to assist vincent in art academy for abstract art. i want donkey kong as a new resident in my animal crossing town.

it should expand to third party titles as well. i want duck hunt as a shooting practice area in resident evil. i want k.k. slider performing in guitar hero, even if he's buck naked. bayonetta should be dancing in just dance and doing zumba, i want a steampunk lady samus aran fighting alongside steam. pit should fly with the jets in ace combat. all unlockable with amiibo.

@Jamotello With the inkling wearing other Nintendo-related stuff, that'd be totally awesome and it'd give hardcore Splatoon players the interest in buying the amiibos. Sure, some people will moan and cry but there'll always be people like that out there. Maybe for Splatoon 2 because I guess Nintendo wants to keep Splatoon its own thing for the time being.

So, let me get this straight, you buy a Shovel Knight amino, which is like $15, too unlock coop mode on a game that is $15...no thanks It's really neat, but the coop mode should just be a Wii U exclusive free add on, and the amiibo should unlock alot more cooler stuff then just this. Cool amiibo and everything, just not enough of a feature to really care.

yacht club can't be accused of milking their players. instead of a mere update, we got a whole expansion with plague of shadows for no additional cost. instead of just a collectible, we get a whole new mode to go with it - or with a new mode, we get a neat new toy, depending on your pov.

@MattEriks I 100% agree! whilst I own about 6 amiibo, I'm neither a collector or a scalper, I consider myself a gamer. I will buy things if I think it is worth the in game content.For my £80 ish investment I've received some splatoon challenges, a co-op woolly buddy,a hide and seek toad challenge and a load of in game costumes. Tbh I feel ripped off in general, I could have bought 2 or 3 AAA games for that. Some have been better than others but mostly it's the 'toy' that adds the value and I'm not into that side of it. In the case of shovel knight, I don't think it's entirely ethical to charge more to unlock 1 mode than the original price of the game. Nothing against those who want it but I'd feel a right mug handing over more for an accessory than I did for the original product in any other circumstances!